Many commercial vehicles are manufactured by multiple vendors and each vendor may be responsible for building one or more portions of the vehicle. For example, the vehicle may be manufactured in separate sections and one vendor may be responsible for building one section and another vendor may be responsible for building another section. The separate sections are transported to a location where they are assembled together into a complete vehicle.
When manufacturing aircraft, the equipment systems delivered by vendors typically have final flight software pre-installed. This final flight software does not include any features to assist in the building of the aircraft. Built-in-test equipment (BITE) functionality is included in the hardware but the associated software is limited to fail-safe and maintenance concerns. This is useful when the aircraft is in service but not when the aircraft is being built.
Such vehicles are built according to a predetermined build plan developed to ensure that each completely assembled vehicle matches a certified design and will perform as designed. Administrative software referred to as factory build software within each manufacturing facility schedules and tracks the vehicle build as well as coordinates the inventory needed for each vehicle build. Factory build software typically includes online work instructions (OWIs) that identify what tasks need to be performed. An assembly line worker interfaces with the factory build software to sign off when each OWI is completed.
The build plan includes multiple phases or levels of the build that define a list of equipment systems and identify when they are to be installed. After an equipment system is installed, it is tested to verify that it is electrically installed correctly. Traditionally, an external test cart is rolled up to the aircraft section and numerous wiring connections are made manually to connect sensors within the external test cart to the equipment system being tested. In many cases, wiring bundles within the aircraft are opened up to make these connections to the external test cart. Power is applied from the external test cart to the wiring onboard the aircraft connected to the sensors on the external test cart to perform one or more tests. Software hosted by the external test cart performs the desired tests. For example, if the desired signals are sensed, then the connections are disconnected and reconnected manually elsewhere to perform additional tests. The external test cart is repeatedly connected and disconnected to verify the various equipment installations. Therefore, a factory build requires a significant amount of manual interaction and specialized equipment to verify correct equipment installations.
In an aircraft not all equipment systems within each section are self-contained. Most are intertwined with other sections of the aircraft. Therefore, to test and verify a section, the equipment systems that are not yet present in the build sequence would have to be emulated. Once equipment system installations have been tested, final assembly processes are performed that would make additional testing difficult due to limited accessibility. Aircraft could be built at a faster rate and orders for completed aircraft could be filled more quickly with the use of verification testing systems earlier in the build process.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure herein is presented.